Oct 31
i just learned my brother in law has this DSLR and uses Sigma lenses. He showed me some of his images and they were amazingly good. All the pros in this category stick with Canon or Nikon, but are the other brand DSLR like this Pentax very popular? I was just curious. Thanks
Buying inexpensive lenses for good cameras has always been popular with amateur photographers who do not need the lenses aperture to cycle 500,000 times during its life.
That said, the lens is the most valuable asset you have. It should last for decades and as you buy new camera bodies, still perform perfectly.
Sigma lenses have a poor reputation … If you really want to save money at the front end of your camera investment there are other lens manufacturers who’s lenses are more robust. Tokina has the best reputation of all the third party lens manufacturers
Here is what third party lenses do not have: (This example is from Ken Rockwell and refers to a Nikon scenario, but it should give you some additional insight)
“Nikon has always designed their lenses to work great with future cameras and often includes secret features about which they tell no one till (sic) the cameras are introduced later. For instance, my twenty-year old AF Nikkors digitally encode their name and focal length setting which is recorded in the EXIF info by the D200!”
I tried the Sigma 12-24 mm zoom–and the focus ring (and the zoom ring) were quite .. stiff. I bought Canon 16-35 mm f 2.8 L zoom instead. It costs twice as much, and I am not sorry I bought it at all.
The other week, at a local camera store that I frequent, the sale person was showing a customer the new 18-200 mm f 3.5-6.2 DC OS HSM. (I cut and pasted this from their website!) .. I played with it, too. The zoom ring was really rough. It was smooth from wide end, and went tight toward the long end. The focus ring, too, was the same.
I don’t know. I haven’t take a photo with one Sigma lens, and if someone gave me one for free, I’d take it. But it just didn’t feel right to me. He is right to say that when a camera body is upgraded, the lenses, hopefully, will be usable (and still working) on a new camera. I didn’t feel that it was made that well to me. I am not criticizing how sharp or not a Sigma lens is (it probably is as it get pretty good reviews)–but I was not impressed by them.
I put a lot of money down when I bought the Canon 24-70 mm f 2.8 L zoom and I have not regretted it at all. It costs twice as much as a Sigma lens (f 2.8 also), and who knows if it’s sharper. But the focus and zoom rings are surely butterly smooth and the ultrasonic motor works without a sound.
I also tried the Sigma 105 mm Macro 2.8 lens, too. And .. I wasn’t impressed with that either. The focusing ring was a bit stiff. The sale person said you came in for the Canon 100 mm f 2.8 macro, why are you trying out a Sigma lens? He reminded me that it costs basically the same, and Canon has FTM (full time focusing) which means I can touch up focus at any time even in Auto mode. So I bought a Canon lens like I originally wanted.
I hope I did not sound like I am putting Sigma lenses down. I am sure they’re very usable, but I just didn’t feel comfortable with them.
Pentax has a long history and certainly was at one time one of the most innovative camera companies–credited with inventing the modern SLR, with in-camera TTL automatic exposure for SLRs, even the first autofocusing SLR. Their manual focus cameras and lenses were very, very good. A lot of Pentax lenses are still out there. So, it’s no surprise that Pentax SLRs have many fans.
Other brands of dSLRs that are well-known:
1) Fujifilm SLRs. They use Nikon bodies, but have Fujifilm sensors. The current lineup has 1 camera: the Fujifilm S5 Pro. However, older cameras like the S2 Pro and S3 Pro were highly regarded and are still fantastic imaging cameras.
2) Olympus 4/3 SLRs. The new E-510 is a good camera, but the 4/3 imager is inherently inferior to SLR cameras with larger sensors (APS-sized and up!), which pretty much is everyone else. Had the E-510 had a larger sensor, it probably would be a huge hit. Older Olympus cameras were used by pros, because they were affordable, but the very oldest cameras didn’t allow for interchangeable lenses.
3) Sony/Minolta/Konica: Minolta was a long-time SLR maker and innovator, but the company merged with Konica. Then Konica-Minolta sold their camera operations to Sony, and now Sony uses the Minolta AF mounts and Minolta designs in the Sony Alpha cameras.
4) Leica SLRs: Some high-end pros prefer the Leica. Not because the cameras are superior, but because the lenses are, at least in the opinions of their users.
5) Not in the game anymore:
Contax. Their SLR was a disaster above ISO 100, and didn’t sell at all.
Kodak. One of the original digital SLR developers, they used both Nikon and Canon bodies, and would drop Kodak electronics into the cameras. The SLR/n and SLR/c cameras were good performers, but ultimately, Kodak opted out of the highly competitive dSLR marker for the less profitable and highly competitive point and shoot market. Probably a good choice, because Kodak just was too reliant on others to make the lenses, bodies, etc. to keep up in the SLR market price-wise. Kodak cameras are interesting and I think of some collector value, especially the Franken-camera models, which look like a film camera mated to a rectangular box.